Digital Marketing: Finding Information About Products

Most people don’t want to “search” for information on the Internet. They prefer to go through a discovery phase, during which they hope to discover interesting or useful data. Social media websites like Facebook generally don’t care about this search process and happily leave this task to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Another goal of a search engine is to reach a particular goal or make a purchase decision. This is a digital marketing task that social media websites like Facebook can do very easily.

For example, imagine there is a person who wants to buy a new sports car. In most cases, the person would first do a Google search for a list of suitable manufacturers, before selecting a few companies for further research. They can then ask their friends for their opinion on their selections. Some friends may recommend a Ferrari, while others may recommend a Porsche. Prospective buyers often ask their friends more about their car options. Once satisfied, the user can do further research online, before finally deciding which one to buy.

Now instead of this lengthy process, imagine posting an internet marketing line on your Facebook wall saying something like “Can anyone recommend a good sports car to buy?” You will soon receive responses from both your friends and brand / third party data. Additionally, Facebook will collect digital marketing data on ‘likes’ to help you verify which products / brands may be worth considering further. This Facebook internet marketing search feature accomplishes two goals: it links a user’s graphical research with their extended research, but more importantly, it prevents users from using Google as well.

Digital marketing brands continue to analyze the value of a Facebook fan and how they should buy versus gain exposure. A useful method of attracting brands is to give them points through which they can connect with their customers. Google improved its business model through the relevant intersection of content and intent. If Facebook includes consumer questions in its digital marketing graph, it would give brands a better measure of user intent, not only improving their digital marketing advertising properties, but also improving their position against Google.

Usually we witness new innovations only when there is competition. Therefore, the increasing digital marketing competition between Google and Facebook is expected to result in more engaging consumer experiences.